The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…

175g plain flour

100g undyed glacé cherry, halved

100g dried apricot, roughly chopped

100g mixed peel, chopped (we used Sundora)

100g golden sultana

50g shelled pistachio, left whole

50g (3 balls) stem ginger from a jar

Method

Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Grease and double-line the base and sides of a deep, 15cm cake tin. Wrap a double layer of greaseproof or brown paper around the outside of the tin, too, then secure with string.

Using an electric whisk or a tabletop mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and light. Beat in the eggs gradually. In a small bowl, mix the orange flower water with the zest and juice of the orange and lemon. Fold the flour, then dried fruit, pistachioes and ginger into the creamed mix, followed by the juice and zest mix.

Spoon the mix into the prepared tin and bake for 30 mins, then turn oven down to 150C/ fan 130C/gas 2 and bake for another 1 hr 45 mins until risen, golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 15 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Comments, questions and tips

Comments (60)

Frantic Flapjack1st Nov, 2016

5

Made this as a trial for my daughter's wedding cake and all the tasters liked it. It is a lovely warm colour and the fruit juices really come through - it has a good citrus taste. I left out the orange blossom water. A good cake if you're not keen on traditional, heavy fruit cake.

Made this for my wedding cake and found the flavours to be gorgeous. Couldn't get orange water anywhere so left it out but the citrus juices were more than enough To give it that kick. It is a really lovely golden fruit cake with beautifully balanced flavours. Did give it an extra half and hour in the oven, but could have had longer...Check out my blog for details...http://itsonlyvintagebutilikeit.com/food-2/its-only-a-wedding-cake-but-i...

I loved making this cake. I followed the recipe as stated but with a bit of twist. I looked for pistachios in my local market and only got them after I had made the cake. Another ingredient missing was the ginger as I only found it fresh so wasn't sure if appropriate to use them. I soaked the dried fruits in rum three days before making it and I loved the taste of the cake. I made it last week. Someone who commented on the taste being different was right. I will be doing another soon & follow the recipe as it is to get a different taste. I would definitely recommend it.

Loved this cake, made yesterday as a trial for my wedding cake, it went down very well with all the tasters, going to use this for all my tiers, 6,9 and 12 inch round. I def found it took longer to cook than stated, but just kept checking with skewer.

Was a bit disappointed with this cake. I have rated the lemon and the chocolate cakes 5*, they were superb and the recipe was followed to the letter. I did the same with this cake but found it took longer to cook than the recipe indicated, probably an extra 30 mins which I felt spoiled things a bit. Don't think I will make this one again. In response to Emma (8 April 2013) you need to chop the ginger into whatever size pieces you want, don't put the balls in whole!

Hi! Did you get a reply? This has been a learning curve for me :) making my son's wedding cake! I was looking in puzzlement at all the paraphernalia! Check out Dan Lepard's video on making a wedding cake, it was v e r y useful and explains it all.Have fun, Iona

I made this as a trial for the top tier of my sister-in-law's wedding cake. It went down a treat. She doesn't normally like fruit cake but this got her seal of approval. It really was very light and moist and was a hit with the whole family. It did take longer in the oven than suggested, but just kept it in their until it passed the skewer test.

This is a really lovely & unusual fruit cake recipe. It makes s nice change from the traditional fruit cake recipes. I call this a 'sunshine' fruit cake as it has the golden sultanas, apricots, mixed peel and golden caster sugar.I have made this twice now, not for a special occasion, just because I had to try the recipe. I made it both times in a 20cm tin as I don't have a 15cm tin.The first time was a long time ago and I bought all the ingredients needed and it was lovely. The second time (last weekend) I didn't have the orange flower water, used normal caster sugar and only had lemon juice from a zested lemon I had used the day before and some fresh bottled orange juice. The cake was still lovely. All tasters agreed it is a great cake and I have had to print the recipe for my mum to use now.If baking in a 20cm tin, mine took about 1hr 30 in a fan assisted oven. Do try this cake, it really is lovely.

hi just hoping you can help , i'm making my brothers wedding cake , i have 3 weeks so i'm hoping its not too late , how much ingredients do i did to make a 14" BY 4" cake and 12" by 4" would be great if you could help

I've just had a practice run making this as the top tier of my nephew's wedding cake, however, it is extremely sweet and the orange flower water, which has very a very distinctive flavour, dominates the taste buds. I don't think it will be to everyone's liking so think I will go with a traditional fruit cake for the top tier. It was also very stodgy, light in colour but not in weight!

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Questions (5)

Does this recipe really require as much as 2 tablespoons of orange flower water? That sounds an awful lot. Is this a mis-print? I'm also assuming orange blossom water and orange flower water are the same thing. Am I correct?

I am planning on using this recipe for the bottom tier of a wedding cake. Please could you advise on how many batches of the recipe I would need for 30cm, 23cm and 20cm cakes and what would the recommended cooking times be?

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